Targeted youth support: redesigning services - urban regeneration board listens to needs of young people

Issue

The existing neighbourhood regeneration board in Knowsley was unaware of the views and issues of young people. There was a danger they would be excluded in the board's neighbourhood renewal plans.

Background

An area partnership board, driven by the local council, has been in place in the pathfinder area for some time. Its membership includes elected members and representatives from the police, fire service, health, education, the local community and businesses.

A community-based neighbourhood team, Halewood Pride, is responsible for implementing the directives of the partnership board.

Young people were not engaged in this process. This may be because there is some suspicion and fear of young people in the area. They have limited places to go and so hang around on the streets outside shops and get moved on by police and community wardens.

Actions prompted by targeted youth support

The targeted youth support (TYS) project manager presented the findings and priorities from the focused interviews, multi-agency workshops and, most importantly, the engagement of young people, to the regeneration board after presenting them to senior managers.

This helped the board understand the importance of TYS in regeneration. Because of this, the board commissioned the neighbourhood pride team to support the TYS project and work with the TYS team to develop solutions and implement changes.

The neighbourhood renewal programme was set up to address challenges in the area. Prior to the above process, young people were seen to be part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Benefits and results

The Halewood Pride team has brought residents and young people together to decide what will be delivered and already allocated funding to support it. One of strongest requirements of young people is for safe places to go and things to do. In particular, they identified a need for better facilities in the community woods.

Young people have also joined a regular residents meeting and its management committee now includes young people. A shared aim is to develop more facilities for young people in the area. For example, there are proposals to improve a number of existing facilities, including floodlighting the football fields and restarting the boxing club.

It is hoped and anticipated that providing positive things for young people to do will keep them off the streets and reduce complaints and incidences of anti-social behaviour.

We have to do something and show young people we mean what we say and make sure we are not excluding them. TYS gives us the emphasis, weight and focus to provide a foundation of trust between young people and the community to build on.

Leader of the council, Councillor Round

The local authority

Knowsley is an urban unitary authority with areas of high deprivation. The TYS pathfinder is focused on a small and stable working class area. Knowsley's statistical neighbours (DfES measures) include Liverpool, Salford, Middlesbrough, Kingston Upon Hull, Hartlepool, Nottingham, Sandwell, Wolverhampton, Rochdale and Walsall.

Click to read more case studies on redesigning services to help young people with particular needs.